Lawless land: 3 women, 3-yr-old girl killed in gun attack in Cotabato town

KIDAPAWAN CITY—Three women and a three-year-old girl were killed while four others were wounded when gunmen attacked them at home at a village in Pikit, Cotabato province on Friday (Oct. 9), police said.

Capt. Mautin Pangandigan, Pikit police chief, identified those killed as Sittie Alipolo Abdullah, 58, Zenaida Mustapha, 36, Laga Abdullah, 34, and Ashley Panigas, 3.

Wounded in the attack were Asria Abdulrajak Abdullah, 30, and three minors aged 13, eight, and seven.

Pangandigan said all the victims were related to each other and living in one house at Lagunde village, an interior part of Pikit town.

According to Pangandigan, the victims were inside their house and resting shortly after lunch when four men arrived on motorcycles around 1 p.m. and immediately opened fire with M-16 assault rifles.

He said initial investigation found a link between the attack and personal grudge.

Shortly before noon on Tuesday (Oct. 6), a guard in the public market was killed and his companion seriously wounded in a gun attack at the village of Gli-gli, also in Pikit.

Killed on that day was Almonjahid Guiamal while his companion, Tonton Lavarias, suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Pangandigan said Guiamal and Lavarias were headed to the town center aboard a motorcycle when the unidentified assailants shot them.

Policemen and soldiers, who rushed to the scene, found cartridges for caliber 5.56 bullets which are being used for Armalite rifles.

Pangandigan said the Oct. 6 gun attack is being investigated.

TSB